Trump urged to step up antitrust crackdown and ‘resist pressures’ to go soft on Google, Ticketmaster

Dozens of business groups asked President Trump to double down on an antitrust crackdown he pitched during his 2024 campaign – and to “resist pressures” to go soft on Google, Ticketmaster and other alleged monopolists.

The groups praised Trump for appointing hawkish antitrust leaders — such as Justice Department antitrust chief Gail Slater, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson and FTC commissioner Mark Meador — and asked Trump in a Monday letter to “press forward with the full slate of pending cases currently being advanced by the FTC and DOJ” rather than seek settlements.

“We urge you to build on the foundation already established and to resist pressures that would return federal antitrust enforcement to a more hands-off approach, the very approach that allowed unchecked market power to take root,” the groups said in the letter exclusively obtained by The Post.

The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.

For weeks, sources close to the situation have described simmering tensions between two camps within Trumpworld – those who want to press ahead with major cases against the likes of Google and Ticketmaster, and others burrowed into the administration pushing an approach that’s more friendly to big business.

Those tensions came to a head in July, when the Justice Department settled its bid to block Hewlett Packard’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks despite Slater’s strong objections. Rumors swirled that MAGA-aligned lobbyists had leaned on their White House connections to kill the case.

Shortly after the settlement, two of Slater’s top aides – Roger Alford and William Rinner – were abruptly fired in a move that alarmed many within the business and legal community. Alford subsequently went scorched earth in an August speech, blasting “MAGA-in-name-only lobbyists and DOJ officials enabling them” who he claimed were undermining Trump’s antitrust agenda.

“There is definitely a cleavage in the Republican coalition between folks who want to want to see a return to a more Bush or Obama era of antitrust and folks who are really concerned with the questions of structural power,” a source close to the situation recently told The Post.

Trump’s dinner last month with Big Tech CEOs – during which Google boss Sundar Pichai thanked Trump for a “resolution” just days after the company dodged an antitrust breakup – raised red flags for anti-monopoly watchdogs as well as “Little Tech” advocates who want to see smaller firms get a level playing field. Apple CEO Tim Cook was also in attendance.

The letter’s signers include groups across tech, agriculture and small business, including the influential startup accelerator Y Combinator; News Media Alliance, a trade group that represents news outlets including The Post; Beeper, a messaging startup that had a high-profile spat with Apple.

Other signatories include the American Booksellers Association; the Tech Oversight Project; the National Grocers Association and dozens of small businesses and regional trade groups.

Notable conservatives also joined the coalition, including Rachel Bovard of the Conservative Policy Institute and the Bull Moose Project.

“We encourage you to stand with those committed to implementing the bold vision you’ve articulated when you announced your Administration’s antitrust enforcers,” the letter added.

Attorney General Pam Bondi is expected to be peppered with questions about her handling of the antitrust division on Tuesday, when she testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee for its annual Justice Department oversight hearing.

Several major antitrust battles are still on the docket. Slater’s DOJ antitrust division has pending lawsuits against Google, Apple, Ticketmaster, Visa and others.

The Ferguson-led FTC is suing Amazon for its alleged monopoly over the online retail sector. Other pending cases include a suit filed last month against Ticketmaster seeking billions in penalties (though not antitrust charges) and an action against Southern Glazer, the nation’s largest alcohol distributor, for illegal pricing.